Sonic

Spartan

Renzo

<p class="is-style-lead">This week, blockchain startups and various crypto projects collectively raised more than $100 million in venture capital (VC).</p>
<p>Here’s a roundup of the <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/funding/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fun</a><a href="https://crypto.news/tag/funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">d</a><a href="https://crypto.news/tag/funding/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ing</a> activities between June 16 and June 22. The activity reflects a growing interest in diverse blockchain applications, from gaming and social networks to advanced cryptographic security.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="pqshield-raises-37m-in-series-b-round">PQShield raises $37m in series B round</h2>
<p>Security startup PQShield emerged as this week’s biggest winner. It closed a $37 million Series B round to enhance its post-quantum cryptography solutions.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Led by Addition, the funding round also included new investors such as Braavos Capital, Legal &amp; General, and Chevron Technology Ventures.</p>
<p>PQShield’s technology is aimed at future-proofing cryptographic systems against quantum computer-based hacks, with notable clients including Nvidia and AMD.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The company’s founder, Dr. Ali El Kaafarani, said that PQShield will use the new funds to hire more people and facilitate closer working relationships with its partners and customers.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="renzo-secures-17m-in-series-a-round">Renzo secures $17m in series A round</h2>
<p>The second-highest amount of funding of the week went to the Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>) restaking protocol, Renzo.</p>
<p>It secured $17 million in a series A round led by Galaxy Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital Nova Fund. Earlier in January, the platform raised $3.2 million in a seed round led by Maven 11.&nbsp;</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Renzo is excited to announce a $17M fundraise led by Nova Fund – Brevan Howard Digital and <a href="https://twitter.com/galaxyhq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@galaxyhq</a> <br><br>Participation includes <a href="https://twitter.com/Maven11Capital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@Maven11Capital</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FigmentCapital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@FigmentCapital</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ProtagonistXYZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@ProtagonistXYZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SevenXVentures?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@SevenXVentures</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BanklessVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@BanklessVC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/280Capital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@280Capital</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AntalphaGroup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@AntalphaGroup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Consensys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@Consensys</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/l2iterative?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@l2iterative</a> <a href="https://t.co/RMffWat2lb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://t.co/RMffWat2lb</a> <a href="https://t.co/X759SHBA38" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://t.co/X759SHBA38</a> <a href="https://t.co/YT30x9SKsS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/YT30x9SKsS</a></p>— Renzo (@RenzoProtocol) <a href="https://twitter.com/RenzoProtocol/status/1803040196415340691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">June 18, 2024</a>
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<p>Renzo enables users to restake various Ethereum assets, providing them with ezETH, a liquid restaking token usable across <a href="https://crypto.news/understanding-defi-and-its-uses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">decentralized finance</a> (defi) platforms. Data from DefiLlama <a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/renzo#information" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shows</a> that it currently has a market capitalization of nearly $115 million and a total value locked of more than $3.6 billion.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="particle-network-bags-15m">Particle Network bags $15m</h2>
<p>Particle Network, a modular blockchain developer, also did well this week. The company raised $15 million in a series A round co-led by The Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The round, as <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/301015/particle-network-token-funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a> by The Block, was structured as a simple agreement for future tokens and involved participation from SevenX Ventures, Flow Traders, and HashKey Capital, among others.</p>
<p>Previously, Particle raised $10 million in three funding rounds, bringing the total raised to $25 million.&nbsp;</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">We just secured $25 Million in funding to unify all chains and abstract away Web3's complexities. 🫡<br><br>We're proud to report that our latest funding round has successfully closed at $15M, led by Spartan Capital and Gumi Crypto, alongside investors like SevenX Ventures, Morningstar… <a href="https://t.co/MDLJWQjRIP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/MDLJWQjRIP</a></p>— Particle Network (@ParticleNtwrk) <a href="https://twitter.com/ParticleNtwrk/status/1803795878253088913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">June 20, 2024</a>
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<p>According to the company’s founder, Pengyu Wang, Particle will use the money to support its work on chain abstraction technology as well as expand its operations.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="sonic-wraps-up-12m-series-a-round">Sonic wraps up $12m series A round</h2>
<p>Elsewhere, Sonic, a Solana (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/solana/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SOL</a>) layer-2 network focused on gaming, raised $12 million in a series A round led by Bitkraft Ventures. Other VC firms that participated in the round included Galaxy Interactive and Big Brain Holdings.&nbsp;</p>
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are excited to announce that Sonic, developed by Mirror World, has completed a $12M Series A funding round led by <a href="https://twitter.com/BITKRAFTVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@BITKRAFTVC</a>, bringing our total capital raised to $16M. 🎉<br><br>Sonic is the first atomic SVM Layer 2 built to enable sovereign game economies on <a href="https://twitter.com/solana?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@solana</a>. <a href="https://t.co/nBAJghORt0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/nBAJghORt0</a></p>— Sonic (Odyssey Now Live ⚡️) (@SonicSVM) <a href="https://twitter.com/SonicSVM/status/1803050032448311308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">June 18, 2024</a>
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<p>The project has raised $16 million in total, following a $4 million round in 2022, giving it a fully diluted valuation of $100 million.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The funds will support Sonic’s mission to simplify Web3 gaming complexities and integrate with various gaming genres.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="zkx-raises-7-6m">ZKX raises $7.6m</h2>
<p>On June 19, ZKX, a pioneering social perpetual trading decentralized exchange (DEX),<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-social-decentralized-perpetual-exchange-113300724.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> announced</a> it had secured $7.6 million in total funding, including a recent $6.3 million seed round.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Investors like Flowdesk, GCR, and DeWhales backed the initiative, which aims to enhance perpetual swaps through social trading features and cross-chain interoperability.</p>
<p>In its announcement, the company stated that it would use the fresh capital to introduce new features to the ZKX protocol, including social copy trade pools as well as expanding cross-chain interoperability to make perpetual swaps universally available.</p>
<p>The platform has also launched its native ZKX token on three major exchanges: <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/bitget/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitget</a>, Gate.io, and <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/kucoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">KuCoin</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="gudchain-closes-5m-investment-round">Gudchain closes $5m investment round</h2>
<p>Another gaming-focused project that won big in this week’s crypto VC action was Gudchain, an OP-stack-based layer-2 blockchain.</p>
<p>It secured $5 million in funding, led by Mechanism Capital. Other participants in the round included Manifold, Skyvision Capital, and Morningstar Ventures.</p>
<p>The blockchain aims to simplify <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/web3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">web3</a> access for gamers and will serve as the foundation for Highstreet Market products. The platform has also r<a href="https://medium.com/morningstar-ventures/gudchain-closes-5m-investment-round-b86c2b884cde" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">eportedly</a> signed five flagship games, with the team planning to launch them on-chain within six months.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="other-notable-funding">Other notable funding</h2>
<p>Several startups also secured smaller, yet significant, funding rounds in the week:</p>
<ul>
 <li><strong>Zeek, $3 million seed round</strong>: The decentralized social collaboration network raised $3 million from investors, including OKX Ventures and Animoca Brands.</li>
 <li><strong>Wasabi, $3 million in seed funding</strong>: The <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/memecoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">meme coin</a> and non-fungible token (NFT) leverage trading protocol garnered $3 million, led by Electric Capital, to boost its defi offerings.</li>
 <li><strong>Bitwise, $2.5 million seed investment</strong>: Bitwise updated its S-1 form, revealing a $2.5 million seed investment for its Ethereum ETF, with Pantera Capital showing interest in further investments.</li>
 <li><strong>Farworld Labs, $1.75 million pre-seed round</strong>: The Farcaster-native gaming company closed a $1.75 million pre-seed round to advance its Farcade platform.</li>
 <li><strong>Ordinox, $1 million in pre-seed funding</strong>: The Cosmos-based automated market maker for BRC20s and Runes received $1 million led by DACM to support its development and security audits.</li>
</ul>
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VC roundup: PQShield clinches $37m, Renzo raises $17m

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